


The beginning

by justme (silver_spring)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College, F/M, Songfic, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22722211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_spring/pseuds/justme
Summary: "I've tried to be subtle for months now, but you're kinda unreceptive to subtlety, so I decided it was time to bring out the big guns."Jaime + Brienne + Valentine's Day + Love declarations (aka the big guns)
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 36
Kudos: 165
Collections: Jaime & Brienne Valentine Duet Collection





	The beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DanyelN](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanyelN/gifts).



> This is for the JB Valentine duet ficlet challenge: "Pick a duet and write 1,000+ words on it featuring JB. They can be the singers, the writers or it can just be an inspiration of some sort."
> 
> Okay, so the duet I went with (after listening to many, many, *many* duets) is "At the beginning" by Donna Lewis and Richard Marx, from the movie _Anastasia._  
>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyLSSKPkyVw
> 
> It's way over 1,000 words, so as far as that goes, I guess I missed the mark on the challenge.. #oops  
> Sorry about the lame title. Finding a title is probably the hardest part of ficcing for me.
> 
> Anyway, valentine's fluff ahead!
> 
> I'm gifting this to DanyelN, because she's the one that came up with the whole challenge.

  
Brienne was glad when she finally got to her dorm. It had been a long day. Valentine's day, for someone that didn't really exist for the other sex, always could be a bit of a tedious affair. All across campus people were making big or small gestures of romance, and pink hearts and flowers everywhere were reminding her of what she didn't and, judged by how her life so far had gone, probably never would have. She couldn't wait to change into her super ratty, but also super comfortable, sweatpants, plop down onto her bed, watch some wesflix and put this day behind her. Usually, she'd likely text her best friend Jaime, but he'd been mysteriously MIA the past days, only writing her a quick note, saying he was busy with Valentine's Day preparations.

Brienne had tried to let that information not hit her too hard, but it was a struggle. Which was kinda stupid. After all, it had always only been a matter of time until Jaime found someone he liked among the tons of girls ready to throw themselves at him. That he apparently now had found one was something she should be happy about. However, as much as Brienne considered herself a decent and fair person, she just couldn't be happy. Not truly anyway. Sure, if Jaime was happy, then she was going to try and be happy for him, but she could not celebrate the fact that she was going to lose the best friendship she'd ever had, because there was no way they were still going to be hanging out as much now that he apparently had a girlfriend. These past days without him had only been a taste of what was to come.

In any case, him having found someone would hopefully shut up the little voice in her head that kept popping up, thinking very loudly about how it could be between them, no matter how often she shut it down. That little voice with its hoping and wishing was delusional anyway, because Jaime being single had never meant Jaime even theoretically having interest in her. He was an absolute looker with his athletic body, green eyes, blond hair and perfect, straight teeth, and while Brienne's hair was blond too, albeit a different shade, that's where the similarities ended. Her eyes were blue, her teeth were still slightly crooked even after wearing braces for the majority of her teens and she was the person with the most freckles she knew. Add to that a 6'3'' muscular body without memorable curves in the right places (or even the wrong places), and you didn't have to be a scientist to know that, on the attractiveness scale, hers and Jaime's numbers weren't even in shouting distance. Her being in love with him had always been doomed to be forever unreciprocated. At least, that way, the boundaries had been set from day 1. Brienne had never had to wonder if something Jaime said was meant flirty, because there was simply no chance it might have been.

As she walked up to her door, Brienne saw that there was something taped to it. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a slim CD case. There was a post-it attached to it, reading only ' _play me_ '. Huh. For a second, the thought of a valentine flashed through her mind, but she dismissed it as quickly as it had turned up. Truthfully, it couldn't be. There was no one who would send her one, at least not as anything other than a joke. It most likely was school-related; she did have a group project due next month, and while Renly and Loras didn't strike her as the type to start extra early, it was a welcome surprise if they indeed had. Brienne grabbed the CD case and went inside, throwing it onto her bed. Those notes could wait for the moment, she was going to eat something first.

One bowl of cereal later, when she was finally wearing her comfy clothes, Brienne picked up the CD again, grabbed her laptop and inserted the disc. Wasn't like she had anything better to do anyway.

To her utter surprise, it wasn't a text file about their presentation of ' _The Long Night: facts vs myths_ ' but a video file, also named ' _play me_ '. Brienne double-clicked on it and waited. The player popped up and to her surprise she saw Jaime. Recording himself, sitting in front of his laptop in his dorm room. He was wearing his horn-rimmed glasses, sporting some serious stubble and his hair looked like he'd run his hands through it a lot. What the...?

"Hey Bee, it's me," he began, throwing in an awkward little wave, "Obviously. As you've probably realized, I've gone into a bit of hibernation the last few days. I'm sorry 'bout that, but I had an important mission that had a deadline, and I'm shit at editing, it turns out. You're probably wondering right now why I would send you this when we see each other pretty much every day. Well, unless I go into hibernation, that is."

He ran a hand through his hair yet again and gave her a quick smile and a wink. As always, Brienne's stomach did a little flip as the butterflies inside it danced. She was so screwed.

"They say a picture says more than a thousand words. I really hope that's true, because I've subtly tried to use my words for a while now, and that hasn't helped much. So, I've decided to use a lot of pictures to get the message across. And words, but they're not mine, because we both know I'm a horrible singer and listening to me butcher the song is probably counterproductive to what I'm going for. And I'm babbling now which is not good. So, without further ado, before the babbling gets even worse, here's the reason why I wasn't available the past few days. I'll pop up on your screen afterwards again, so please watch all of it and listen. Okay? Okay. See you in about..uh.. 3 minutes and 45 seconds."

And then the screen faded to black. Brienne waited with bated breath what would happen next. She had no idea what this was all about, but it apparently was very important to Jaime, so she was going to do as he'd asked and watch everything. The pesky little voice in the back of her head spoke up yet again, reminding her that Jaime, by his own admission via text, was busy with Valentine's Day stuff, and she literally shook her head to nix that thought. Those two things didn't have to be related, they couldn't be, weren't. He was probably out on his date right now, and had simply sent her a nice little something so that she wouldn't feel too left out. Maybe a reassurance that he was intending to keep up their friendship. Which was very sweet of him.

Before she could think much more on anything, the black faded away into a title card, reading 'you and me'. Gentle piano notes started playing, accompanying a slideshow of what apparently were images of her and Jaime..

_We were strangers, starting out on a journey_  
_Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through_  
_Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing_  
_At the beginning with you_

Pictures of the freshman party where they'd met. Back then, no one would have guessed she and Jaime would ever be anything resembling friends. He'd proven that he hardly ever had control of what came out of his mouth by loudly exclaiming his surprise over her being a girl. Brienne had huffed and stormed off. He'd stormed right after her to apologize, and asked for a do over. Which, considering his apology had been good and sounded genuine, Brienne had granted him. They'd ditched the lousy music and even lousier food for a trip to the nearest Red Keep fast food restaurant and started talking. Bickering too, but mostly talking. Numbers were exchanged, and their friendship was born.

_No one told me, I was going to find you_  
_Unexpected, what you did to my heart_

A picture from the field trip in second semester. Jaime and her, sitting next to each other on the bus, his arm holding the phone that had taken this selfie, his other arm loosely draped over her broad shoulder as she scowled. Brienne remembered how she'd scolded him for always taking photos when she didn't want to be in any. He'd shrugged it off, saying memories were important and that you could never know which moments turned out to be the big ones, so it was better to record as many of them as one could.

_When I lost hope, you were there to remind me_  
_This is the start_

Jaime and her, taking a selfie to commemorate the end of his physical therapy, grinning like two loons. It had been the middle of sophomore year when he'd had a serious accident, breaking his hand in about five places. For a time, the doctors hadn't even been sure if he'd ever be able to fully use it again, and the uncertainty and the pain had been horrible on him. Having to stay in hospital for weeks, missing classes and falling behind when his father was already always on him to improve his academic performance hadn't helped either. Brienne had visited him daily, bringing him notes, studying with him even for the classes they didn't have together and trying to cheer him up. He'd made a full recovery in the end and passed every class. She'd been so proud of him. It had been around that time when she'd acknowledged her feelings for him and their futility.

_And life is a road and I wanna keep going_  
_Love is a river I wanna keep flowing_  
_Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey_  
_I'll be there when the world stops turning_  
_I'll be there when the storm is through_  
_In the end I wanna be standing_  
_At the beginning with you_

More candid shots he'd taken of them over the years. The 'great pizza taste test of King's Landing' where they'd both realized that there was such a thing as too much pizza, and Jaime and her in their Halloween costumes, as Sers Arthur Dayne and Duncan the Tall. They recycled those every Halloween, because they were in total agreement that dressing up as a knight never went out of style.

Brienne's pulse was racing. If he was going for what she thought he was going for...then...

_We were strangers, on a crazy adventure_  
_Never dreaming, how our dreams would come true_  
_Now here we stand, unafraid of the future_  
_At the beginning with you_

Jaime and her after she'd just crushed him at bench pressing. Both their faces still red from the exhaustion. 

The time when they'd gone to play paintball, the two of them teaming up and crushing the others. By the time the game had ended, hers and Jaime's outfits were the only ones still pristine. 

A candid shot of Brienne, ducking behind a hedge when Jaime had challenged her to 'live a little' and persuaded her to TP dean Baratheon's front yard.

  
_And life is a road and I wanna keep going_  
_Love is a river I wanna keep flowing_  
_Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey_  
_I'll be there when the world stops turning_  
_I'll be there when the storm is through_  
_In the end I wanna be standing_  
_At the beginning with you_

The one time they had gone camping shortly after Jaime's recovery only to discover that the tent didn't have all its pegs and they were ultimately forced to sleep in the car because it rained so hard. Brienne had gotten a mean cold afterwards, and Jaime had brought her chicken soup every day. The picture showed both of them making an exaggeratedly long face, huddled together under a tree to escape the worst of the downpour.

_Knew there was somebody, somewhere_  
_A new love in the dark_  
_Now I know my dream will live on_  
_I've been waiting so long_  
_Nothing's gonna tear us apart_

Vegging out in Jaime's dorm, a bowl of popcorn between them, each of them having one hand in the bowl, textbooks in their laps. Over the years, Brienne had simply accepted Jaime's desire to take pictures of everything and it didn't even bother her anymore whenever the flash of his phone went off. In the picture, she wasn't even looking up, so she had never seen the way that Jaime looked at her, with a small smile of contentment.

_And life is a road and I wanna keep going_  
_Love is a river I wanna keep flowing_  
_Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey_  
_I'll be there when the world stops turning_  
_I'll be there when the storm is through_  
_In the end I wanna be standing_  
_At the beginning with you_

The evening last year when they'd attended the Lannister fundraiser for orphans. Jaime's father had demanded his son show up, and Jaime had roped Brienne into going with him, because, so he said, a load shared was a load halved. She'd loathed the idea of having to dress up and still stick out like a sore thumb, but had agreed to go, for him. He'd made her dance with him, too, which was when someone must've taken the picture she was looking at. And as soon as they could get away with it, they'd snuck out, with a tray of hors d'oeuvres and a bottle of champagne, having a party of their own.

_Life is a road and I wanna keep going_  
_Love is a river I wanna keep going on_  
_Starting out on a journey_  
_Life is a road and I wanna keep going_  
_Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing_  
_In the end I wanna be standing_  
_At the beginning with you_

All the images she'd just seen came back in quick succession, ending in another shot of Jaime and herself as the music faded away into the soft piano notes again. It had been taken last summer when he'd visited her back home on Tarth for a week before traveling on to Essos. She'd been so excited to show him all her special places and childhood hideouts. They'd gone cliff diving, swimming and hiking. This last picture was of them, sitting in the sand, one arm around the other each, watching the sunset. Or, as she could see now, Brienne watching the sunset, and Jaime watching her.

Then the screen faded to black again, not that Brienne could see it clearly. Her vision had become rather blurry these past moments. She sniffled and wiped the tears away. That was...she had no words. She didn't know what to think, either. This was..it couldn't be, could it? With her heart beating fast, she waited for Jaime's face to reappear on her screen as he'd promised, the seconds until it did feeling like hours.

"So..uh..yeah," He began, when he was in the frame again, "This is what's on my mind. I've tried to be subtle for months now, but you're kinda unreceptive to subtlety, so I decided it was time to bring out the big guns. Because I don't want to miss out on our chance any longer. I don't want to wonder anymore 'what if?' and then find out that you've found someone else because I didn't have the balls to say it. So I'll say it, right now. Here goes."

He took a deep breath. Brienne held hers.

"Bee, I'm completely, utterly and madly in love with you. Have been for ages now. I..there is not one aspect of my life that isn't better with you in it. You're the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep and the first one I want to see when I get up. It doesn't matter what we do, if we talk or just are quiet together, I want to be with you, always. The amount of time I'm spending thinking about kissing you is insane. You're the one I want. The only one. And I know I'm springing a lot onto you right now but hear me out. I know this is a risk. You may not want me at all in that way, contrary to what I think I'm sensing which may just be wishful thinking on my part, and that's something that I'll just have to accept, should it be the case. But I can't keep quiet any longer. Not when there's a chance you may feel for me the way I feel about you. So I figured, what better day than today? It's the day for romance, after all, and should you be returning my feelings it's the perfect day for our beginning. Our new beginning as more than friends. I know I'm babbling again, but this is not something you can script or edit. This is me, unfiltered. Straight from the heart. And if this hot mess is what you want, I'll be waiting outside. I'll also be waiting outside if you don't want my chaos, because I'll always be your friend. The point is, put the laptop away, I'm in front of your door."

Brienne's head snapped to the side, staring at her door. Was he serious? Was he seriously in front of her door now, waiting for her? What was she going to say to him after this declaration? A declaration that sounded almost too good to be true. Her most secret dream couldn't be fulfilled just like that, could it? It was a bit of a shock, to be honest.

A subtle cough from her laptop drew her gaze back to the video.

"Helloo? What are you waiting for?" The Jaime on the screen asked with a smirk, making Brienne snort over how well he knew her and that she wouldn't have jumped up to hurry to the door immediately, having to think first. It helped thaw her out of her frozen position and finally put the laptop away.

Brienne took a look at herself and her attire and was tempted to run a hand through her own short hair or change at least the t-shirt she was wearing with a hole in the hem. Oh well. Jaime had seen her like this dozens of times and he'd still sent her this wonderful, fantastic, lovely video. He knew what she looked like and apparently, still wanted her. Gods, what the hell was she waiting for, indeed?

Jumping off the bed, Brienne hurried over to the door, her knees shaking. She took a deep breath to calm herself, wiped her hands over her face once more and opened, looking out.

Jaime was sitting on the floor across from her room, a backpack next to him, an opened book in his lap. His hair was still chaotic, but he'd shaved. When he saw her, he scrambled to his feet, giving her a look Brienne wasn't accustomed to see coming from him: He looked shy.

"Hey," he began tentatively.  
"Hey," Brienne replied, holding on to the doorknob to have something to ground her.  
"So...did you watch everything?"  
"Yeah..I..saw most of it. There was some crying towards the end, I have to admit... Did you mean it? Truly?" Brienne asked, biting her lip.  
"Every single word. I've already wasted too much time not telling you and I don't want to waste any more."  
"No one's ever done anything like that for me. I..I loved it."  
"No matter what you decide, I felt that you should know. Know that you are loved."

The butterflies in Brienne's stomach went crazy doing somersaults. Decision? There was no decision, really. There was only one thing she wanted, had wanted for so long, but never dared to imagine being possible. She was going to take a massive step and leap into the unknown. It wasn't scary to do it, not with Jaime by her side.

"You are too, you know?"  
"I am?" He asked, with a look of hopefulness, instinctively taking a step towards her. Brienne finally let go of the doorknob. She was ready to leap.  
"Very much so."

The smile that blossomed on Jaime's face was almost heartstopping. Brienne knew for a fact her own wasn't, but she smiled anyway. Probably like a doofus, but it didn't matter.

Jaime stretched his hand out towards her.

"Come on."  
"What? Where are we going?" Brienne asked, already putting her hand into his.   
"To celebrate our first Valentine's together. I know you hate roses, so I brought a backpack of snacks. It's a clear night, we should be able see some stars while we picknick."  
"I don't have anything for you."

Jaime looked down at their still entwined hands, pulling slightly.

"I beg to differ."

Brienne could feel herself blushing, and she'd never been a fan of her face doing the splotchy thing. She pulled on Jaime's hand in return, albeit a little stronger than he had done, which possibly was part diversion but definitely a big part giddyness.

"I'm going to need my coat and some shoes, unless you want to bring me chicken soup again because I'm sick," she explained.

"While it will be part of my job as your boyfriend to bring you soup when you're ill, I much prefer it when you're healthy," Jaime replied, reluctantly letting go of her hand and using the time to pick up his stuff from the floor.

Brienne quickly pulled her coat off the peg on the inside of her door and slipped into her sneakers. _Her boyfriend_. Yeah, that blush wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Might as well embrace it. As she stepped outside her room, she thought about how brave Jaime had been putting himself out there like that and that maybe it was time for herself to be brave as well.

"You ready?" He asked, when Brienne didn't move.  
"Almost," she replied. She took a last deep breath and moved forward. Bravely, she touched her lips to Jaime's for their very first kiss. It was quite chaste, but sweet and glorious.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Jaime," Brienne breathed, as she leaned back, "Now we can go."  
"Uh huh," he replied with a nod, a little dazed.

Their hands found each other again almost automatically as they walked down the hallway to wherever it was that Jaime had deemed the perfect place for a celebration. Best friends and more, boldly stepping into their new beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)


End file.
